The mother of Mikaeel Kular, the three-year-old boy found dead after being reported missing last week, appeared in court yesterday charged with murder.

Rosdeep Kular (33) is also accused of attempting to "defeat the ends of justice" in connection with her son's death.

She appeared at Edinburgh Sheriff Court in a short private hearing and did not enter a plea or make a declaration. Sheriff Frank Crowe remanded her in custody and committed her for further examination.

Ms Kular, who appeared under her married name, Adekoya, will return to court in a closed session next Tuesday.

She was arrested after police found her son's body on Friday night in woodland behind her old home in Kirkcaldy, 30 miles from Edinburgh. Scotland's Crown Office confirmed for the first time yesterday that Ms Kular was accused of Mikaeel's murder, although full details of the charges will not be released until she appears in open court.

Ms Kular, a beauty therapist with four other children, claimed she last saw her son when she put him to bed in her Edinburgh flat last Wednesday.

He was apparently unwell and slept on his own in the bedroom he normally shared with his twin sister, Ashika, she said.

His mother claimed he had gone when she went to wake him at 7.15am the next day. Officers said he would have been capable of leaving the flat himself. It is not known how long Mikaeel lay dead. He had not been seen at his nursery since it broke up for Christmas.